A gas turbine engine generally includes a fan and a core arranged in flow communication with one another. Additionally, the core of the gas turbine engine general includes, in serial flow order, a compressor section, a combustion section, a turbine section, and an exhaust section. In operation, air is provided from the fan to an inlet of the compressor section where one or more axial compressors progressively compress the air until it reaches the combustion section. Fuel is mixed with the compressed air and burned within the combustion section to provide combustion gases. The combustion gases are routed from the combustion section to the turbine section. The flow of combustion gasses through the turbine section drives the turbine section and is then routed through the exhaust section, e.g., to atmosphere.
Traditionally, the combustion section includes a combustor for receiving compressed air and fuel and combusting the combination to provide the turbine section with the combustion gasses. The fuel and air is typically provided with an equivalence ratio of about 1:1 such that substantially stoichiometric combustion takes place. However, such may lead to relatively high peak temperatures, and further to undesirable amounts of NOx formation.
Accordingly, a combustion section for a gas turbine engine capable of avoiding these issues would be useful. More specifically, a combustion section capable of generating combustion gases having a reduced amount of NOx, while efficiently combusting all of the fuel would be particularly beneficial.